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A review by mweis
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
5.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I went into this book almost solely because of the cover but I quickly became hooked by the story. In the vein of Atwood's Alias Grace or Collins's The Confessions of Frannie Langton, our main character is a young girl being evaluated to see if she stands fit for trial for some gruesome event that we find out about as the story progresses.
The narrative structure here did a lot to add the creepy atmosphere and sense of tension as the story builds. There were a couple of reveals that had my jaw on the floor too, like even when the shape of the "twist" was expected, the details were most definitely not.
I loved the "case episodes" sprinkled in that show Roos in the present timeline speaking to the doctor evaluating her. I also really appreciated that this take on the was it real or was it mental illness trope didn't demonize mental illnesses. We also see sprinkles of historical Netherlands which were really fascinating to me. There were references to the Nazi occupation, and the wealthy young widow, Agnes, is Indonesian so we see reference to Dutch colonies too and the history nerd in me loved those details.
This was dark and gothic and sapphic and everything I didn't know I needed it to be, but wow will I be recommending it all spooky season long (and beyond). I cannot wait to see what van Veen writes next!
I went into this book almost solely because of the cover but I quickly became hooked by the story. In the vein of Atwood's Alias Grace or Collins's The Confessions of Frannie Langton, our main character is a young girl being evaluated to see if she stands fit for trial for some gruesome event that we find out about as the story progresses.
The narrative structure here did a lot to add the creepy atmosphere and sense of tension as the story builds. There were a couple of reveals that had my jaw on the floor too, like even when the shape of the "twist" was expected, the details were most definitely not.
I loved the "case episodes" sprinkled in that show Roos in the present timeline speaking to the doctor evaluating her. I also really appreciated that this take on the was it real or was it mental illness trope didn't demonize mental illnesses. We also see sprinkles of historical Netherlands which were really fascinating to me. There were references to the Nazi occupation, and the wealthy young widow, Agnes, is Indonesian so we see reference to Dutch colonies too and the history nerd in me loved those details.
This was dark and gothic and sapphic and everything I didn't know I needed it to be, but wow will I be recommending it all spooky season long (and beyond). I cannot wait to see what van Veen writes next!